Friend

P 2631 Beware of roadblocks.

/ DVH

There is a possibility in our lives that we can have hidden, (even from ourselves), agendas – things that will inadvertently get in the way of true growth. Sometimes we can get caught up in our minds or emotions with ideas, people or things that we fiercely defend, but we are totally unaware that is what we are doing. Over a longer period of time, we can also learn to carefully avoid some situations because we are subconsciously aware that we don’t cope with them. Likewise, we can steer away from, or even get angry about, some things, purely because there is concealed pain behind them.

Ask yourself this question – apart from Jesus Himself – Who is THE most important person in your life – is there anyone or anything that you strongly feel that you cannot live without? Maybe a person who you value so much, that even the smallest thought of loss can send you into fear or anxiety? If you are a parent, maybe it’s a child …whether it is an adult child or not …  or perhaps a spouse;  or a close friend. Even the thought of any loss connected with these things can send you into an overwhelming downward spiral. If even the very thought of letting go of something or someone sends us into a panic – that is a clear indication something has grabbed hold of us!

You know, the thing we are most afraid of, can sometimes be the greatest spiritual strength in our lives, when we overcome that fear with His help. Always remembering that His help leads us TO DO SOMETHING. Perhaps there is a job we don’t want to lose, or we’ve fixated on finding somewhere safe to live – but this thing, whatever it is, influences every other decision we make. And it may not even consciously register in our minds. In this scenario that person or thing, no matter how normal or insignificant they seem to be, can become a roadblock to spiritual growth. 

When things get tough, and hardship strikes — this predisposition to protect ourselves and hide from suffering, will get in the way of any of the Holy Spirit’s solutions. Simply put, we won’t ask Him to help us with someone or something we don’t want to lose … just in case He takes that thing or person away! Plus we can easily go on from there to make decisions based on fear and pain instead of what the Lord wants. 

It is incredibly easy to think we know what is best for us – but that decision can be formed within the framework of hidden fear NOT FAITH. The assumption that our feelings, or even familiar thought patterns are a good guide, is a lie! The Word of God is our primary, solitary guide. I have seen godly parents put up with abuse, because they feel they cannot live without their fully grown child and the sneaky wrong spirit in that adult child ends up ruling the roost.

Or maybe the parent is afraid of what will become of their progeny and sadly, co-dependency has taken hold. We can sometimes desperately pray and hope: “that Jesus won’t mind, because He understands I can’t help it, I need it to be like this.” Read the gospels … the Lord told one man to leave his recently deceased father behind!

I have also seen sweet Godly Christians hurt others because they refuse to let go of something that should have been left behind them years ago. That has been caused by fear which has been carried forward from childhood pain. It can colour our adult thinking. The thing to do in such situations is to get to the root of the tree by asking WHY?

Why do I feel so strongly that I cannot let go of my child, or spouse etc. and give them to Jesus unreservedly, without any agenda in my heart? What pattern of ungodly thinking is preventing my growth? What fear is ruling my life? How did it start, and what am I still doing now, today, to keep that fear alive? We need to prayerfully identify and deal with these issues under the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and guidance.

Our God is not mean. He is a loving caring Father, who is deeply involved, and intimately engaged in our everyday lives. BTW, this issue is not about disobedience, it is a deep lack of trust. We are not trusting the Lord to take care of those things that are extremely important to us. Sadly we could even be letting fear rule. But our precious loving Father knows us, and He knows the way we need to go to get through things like this. We must follow Him, step by step into relinquishment. It is not good to hold on to other people so tightly that you lose your own God-given freedom!

Matthew 16:19:“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” The Lord Jesus Christ gave His power to the disciples when they were too dumb to know what they were given. That’s how generous to mankind He has been! We can personally prevent any change in difficult situations or even dangerous ones by misusing the power we already have — instead of yielding people or material things to Him and progressively learning to live a life of faith. We need to let go of those things that weigh us down. At the same time by holding on too tightly to someone/something else we have the power to prevent growth and change in that other person or situation.

It is part of our job description to voluntarily choose to live this new life Jesus died to give us, embracing the power to overcome, instead of hiding away from it because it might pinch something from us! Plus always watching and aware of any roadblocks or ‘keep-out signs’ we have inadvertently put up or embraced… because we know those things will steal His new life away from us. Bye. 👋

P 2564 Life’s tough, but you can’t beat a good laugh!

/ DVH

Many Christians could get quite offended if I imply they are actually not nice people. So, today I want to start off with this — of course you are a nice person! We have to learn to be nice people – it’s almost kind of mandatory! But we can easily be a misinformed person, because nobody has taught us how to use our faith to grow, and live transformed lives! The reality is, we could be rich, we may even have a BMW parked somewhere safe, plenty of funds in the bank, and a 200 square foot house … but we still get furious with other people and run off at the mouth! I’ve noticed that success appears on the outside, but a heart change takes a while to show up.

The truth is: the person who has to co-operate with the Holy Spirit here, in this life, is me. You may drive me nuts, but it is still up to me to stop the negative monologue in my brain from rolling around on repeat. The Holy Spirit will not shut our mouths for us. He won’t even make us read the bible so we have something good to think about instead! He will not switch off the TV or the radio either. Our precious Friend, the Holy Spirit is terrific, He is a fantastic Helper! He wants us to win over sin and temptation, so He warns us over and over again. He says stuff like: ”Turn back now” or “Why not die to self?” But our only way out is to obey what we’ve heard – not just wish-pray stuff away! 

Thinking over what you really want to say to that guy at work who annoys you all the time, will pretty much guarantee it will fly out of your mouth at him, sometime or other, unexpectedly. But the Holy Spirit won’t stop that either – if He did He would be violating our free will! He will warn us but if we ignore Him, HE WILL QUIETLY GO AWAY. Choice is everything. He won’t yell at us about our bad choices – the Holy Spirit quite simply votes with His feet! What do I mean by that? He leaves. WE will have to deliberately DO things differently as in Me. Myself. I!

He will not make a puppet out of us, we must choose to change – on the spot, in the heat of the moment – when you really want to let someone have it! We must take steps to walk out of the many things we have allowed to control our lives — and we do that on purpose. We ask for His help and then purpose to change the way we respond. And here is another enormous truth – ministry, good works, etc. will not change us – choices do. 

The Lord Jesus walked every single step of the way to Calvary. Nobody gave Him a ride. He had to take that walk knowing He was walking to His DEATH. We too, are on a daily death-march. Every single day, we will be tempted all the time, to avoid or postpone dying to self.  Postponement has a fatal flaw— every time we give in to temptation, we are empowering the wrong spirit in us. Just saying is all…

2 Corinthians 10:5 says:”We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”  As you can see we can’t just say:  ”Mind! You must not think that!”  We need to replace what our minds naturally run to, with something that is good, right, pure and just. That is what taking thoughts captive means. So we read the book intentionally and we puzzle over what He is saying to ME!  My advice is to read it until you start punching the air and saying – “Yes! This shows me how much God loves me – He wants to help me!!”  When did we ever get so darn cool and laid-back that we no longer show enthusiasm for the things of God? 🙄

Lastly I am going to give you a great secret when it comes to dealing with your angry, frustrated, wandering mind. Learn to laugh …at yourself. Please don’t laugh at  someone else, that has been known to start wars! Laugh at the situation, or how seriously you seem to be taking it, or the fact that you just screeched at someone like an angry parrot! Learn to laugh …at yourself. Maintaining a sense of humour in the midst of all the angst, pain, irritation and suffering this life hands us, is almost mandatory. All those things are not funny, I know that – I live with them! But when you’ve tried to dress yourself and successfully put the stupid garment on backwards for the 4th time … it is funny.

Years ago, when hubby and I were fighting …playing word interpretation ping-pong back and forth, I often found there were moments when I wanted to laugh. But of course, in my mind it was wrong to laugh be-ca-use …after all, THIS.WAS.SERIOUS! The sky was falling! Our marriage could be over! Except … it wasn’t! After realising that I-can’t-count-the-number-of …semi-trailer loads of God’s grace that fell on us — 37 years later we are still enjoying each other’s company. And yes… we still disagree, at times, loudly. Not!Dead!Yet!  We are both a work in progress – sometimes driving each other batty – of course it is always his fault! He still hasn’t learnt that the woman is always right! 😂

Laughing at ourselves or even a situation, releases tension. It will help us feel better, even temporarily, and it breaks the coldness that creeps into our hearts when we get angry. It also gives us an opportunity to think about and choose what we will do next. Apologies are great! “I’m sincerely sorry I was such a grouchy angry person …” that’s all good. But you can’t beat a good laugh … at yourself. It really is a medicine that cures the soul. You can’t be angry and laugh all at the same time. 👋

P 2562 Living this life aware of the Dove.

/ DVH

“Loving Me empowers you to obey My commands. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Saviour, the Holy Spirit of Truth, who will be to you a Friend just like Me—and He will never leave you. The world won’t receive Him because they can’t see Him or know Him. But you know Him intimately because He remains with you and will live inside you.” John 14:15-17 TPT.

What does LOVE mean to God? Here’s what Jesus, our resident Expert, explained about that in John 15:13: “No one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life for his friends.” I liked that verse so much here is another version! 😊…”For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends.” (TPT).

To our God, love involves sacrifice – and He set the example. If we want to learn His love language we are going to need to learn how to love the way He loves…. and He loved us, so He sacrificially gave us everything He treasures. And the Lord Jesus loved US so much that He sent us His dearest Friend and Guide ever – the Holy Spirit, His constant beloved Companion …to help us! Think about it. Jesus’ Best Friend can be our best Friend too! Not just SomeOne Who comes alongside … SomeOne Who lives INSIDE. Ya can’t get closer than that!! We have SomeOne Whose very Presence imparts God’s POV, living inside us. The Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to us, so He can reveal Jesus through us!

Can I be honest with you? It seems to me that the Precious Holy Spirit deserves a glorious palace, or a spectacular house, yet my heart can seem more like a barely inhabitable tenement, some days! Mainly because I know He is incredibly pure and holy, and I comfort myself that He wants me to learn so we can be together. With His help, I am learning to make sure He feels welcome and my heart is continually being transformed into His home. One thing I have noticed about the Holy Spirit, He never elevates Himself. He ALWAYS points to Jesus, He is the Word of God, as well as to our Father’s great love for us. He’s so selfless.

How do you keep SomeOne this loving, powerful, pure and kind as a friend? TREASURE HIM above everything else. He is our most glorious treasure! He is the pearl God has hidden inside the ordinary field of our hearts … and we need to give up all we have in order to have the privilege of having this incredible treasure with us always. Because the Holy Spirit’s Presence is definitely more precious than all the things of this world! He is also worth our every effort to love the people who may actively hate and oppose us. We are to live this life, OUR NEW LIFE, aware of Him. All it takes is the power of choice, and making sure we know what He likes. That’s in the book!

Over the years I have learnt that He will never bully me, or disapprove of my careless, selfish actions – instead it is His very Presence within me that convicts and convinces me of my sin. And if I do something incredibly dumb … He just quietly leaves, and He waits for me to realise His absence. At the same time He will help me with whatever I did so that I can restore the relationship again. 

You know human beings can be pushy, but He is not. People can be mean, but He is not. He simply speaks His truth to me, and that truth exposes things I never knew were inside my heart! He speaks to me through the bible, as well as personally. We are blessed to know SomeOne Who utterly loves us and only wants the best for us – as well as the people that we care about. He will do this for everyone every single minute of every single day.

The bible says that we show no greater love than if we lay down our lives for our friends, and we have the most glorious example of what that looks like. Jesus Christ willingly made that choice for all of us! BUT, then the Lord exploded our finite ideas of what love looks like by saying this in Matthew 5:43-45:“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”   Meanwhile, we cannot possibly fulfil the harder criteria Jesus gave us, without the Holy Spirit’s help, guidance, and counsel!! Which is why, first of all, we are to lay down our lives for our Heavenly Friend, the Holy Spirit.

We need Him! We cannot live the Christian life without Him. He is not rules, He is not disapproval – He’s a Person Who dearly loves us, FOREVER. Let us continually purpose to become acquainted with what His Love, looks likes. Human beings when they are crossed, hold grudges, get bitter, and happily cultivate resentment. This means we desperately need our Helper to guide us through the minefield of our emotions, and errant thoughts. He will set us up back on our feet so we can continue with our spiritual journey. Praise God! There is a step that is above learning to be obedient – and we do need to be obedient! And that deeper step is about … falling in Love – people do anything for Love.

Loving Jesus will give us the power to obey Him. That’s why He sent us the Helper Who is an Expert in Love. Without the Grace and power of God we will fall into sin, and oh so many snares. Praise God for our Friend Who is closer than a brother – the Holy Spirit. Amen. 🙌 Learn to live this life aware of the Dove. 🕊️

“Those who cling to their lives will give up true life. But those who let go of their lives for My sake and surrender it all to Me will discover true life!” Matthew 10:39 TPT. 👋

P 2547 We are here for His pleasure.

/ DVH

““You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory, honour, and power, for You created all things, and for Your pleasure they were created and exist.”” Revelation 4:11 TPT.

When I look at that scripture above, from Revelation 4:11 it gives me perspective. It reminds me Almighty God is always worthy of my praise, no matter what is going on in my life right now. Plus the fact that I am not here for me. I am not here for you. I am not even here for my family or friends or country. I am not even here for what I do, or don’t do … I was made for God’s pleasure a-n-d … praise God, so were YOU. Ya might want to pause and think about that! 🤔 So today, I am delighted to be able to say; “I serve at the pleasure of my King, Jesus Christ.”  

And that small sentence changes everything. It adds purpose and meaning to life because God Himself did that for US! Other people may not always understand why we are here, which can lead to conflict and estrangement. But we are His people, the sheep of His pasture! Yay!!  At the same time we can have difficult days and when it comes to loving other people, our Heavenly Father knew we would all need help! 

So we have been given a precious gift, the Holy Spirit. He is our greatly Beloved, Personal, Ever-present Friend. Jesus had to leave us, and so He sent the Person Who helped Him, back to help us! The Spirit of God has been given to us freely and His Presence in our lives is our most valuable asset in this world. He reminds us we are greatly loved.

Here is some dead easy Math — if we add what Jesus did for us to our sin, irregardless of how nasty a person we can all be sometimes, we end up with the completed, perfect solution to SIN. You can call it whatever you like …Salvation. Redemption. You and I were given the plus and the Answer in that little sum!! It means we got out of jail free. That’s a big plus!! The only sensible response to this gift is gratitude. Unlike the game of Monopoly – this “get out of jail free card” may not be sold or exchanged.  It is as personal as the moment you and I were conceived. 

“For you formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:16. 

There are over 100 bible verses in His book about how the Lord knew us before anyone else ever did. Plus how He created us in secret, and it gave Him great pleasure to do it. He planned each one of us and brought us into being. Personally, I’ve found that thought incredibly reassuring. SomeOne wanted me to be here, right here, right now. I’m not sure either of my parents had a child in mind when they started out, because they only knew each other for four weeks before they married — and I turned up about nine months later! Given that my mother quickly realised her mistake in marrying a virtual stranger, it totally blesses my heart to know that I am here for the King’s pleasure!

I hope these thoughts are comforting for anyone who feels like an orphan, or even misplaced persons … None of us are an accident — Father God always had each one of us in His heart.  Our He has good plans for us too. Life hands us lemons all the time, and the bitterness that stuff brings, needs to be sweetened by the Presence of SomeOne Who knows all the Answers and the way through our troubles. Right at this moment, our presence on this planet gives God enormous pleasure and our troubles are momentary things. Remind yourself of that whenever you feel like a big fat failure, or someone else has not-so-kindly pointed out your failings … God bless ‘em. 

The Holy Spirit helps us negotiate the twists and turns and sudden land-slides of this life. And, praise Him, we have a whole bible full of the things He wrote. We have a book filled with instructions about how to relate to Him and others! Plus we don’t have to run around hoping against hope that we might manage to do something right. Our Heavenly Father was pleased with the idea of us before we got here, and He gave us SomeOne to guide us through this maze.

You are here for the pleasure of your King, for such good works He prepared for you before you ever got here. Those things He set aside that only you can do. They won’t get done if you don’t do them. I believe this means that you have something unique to contribute to this life. Bye. 👋

““…but I run with passion into His abundance so that I may reach the purpose for which Christ Jesus laid hold of me to make me His own.” Philippians 3:12a,13.

P 2503 What to do when the roof falls in …

/ DVH

First of all, let’s be totally clear … I’ve had way-too-many-roof-fallen-in adventures. The following are a series of helpful hints I have found that are useful. They have helped me, and sometimes they have even stopped me from laying on the floor sobbing. However, there are definitely times to lay on the floor and sob;  so give yourself room to weep over any catastrophe, loss, or injury of any sort! Don’t be so spiritually stoic you bury your feelings.  “There’s a time for every purpose under heaven … … a time to weep.”Ecclesiastes 3:4a.

Pray. Yeah I know, most of the time we start out by trying to minimise whatever the damage is – but we actually need the King of all Glory running disasters – not us. Plus we should call someone else asap, and rally the troops …the praying people we trust. The bible says:“From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee – when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Psalm 61:2. Amen.

Basically that verse is saying, no matter where I am, no matter what has happened to me, He is my ever-present help. Call on His Name. Yell, ‘help help Jesus!’  There is a place, right beside our precious Saviour, that is so much higher than whatever it is that has just happened to you. Do take a blanket, you may need to intentionally live there a while! We want to stand right next to Him, right next to His heart, so close we can hear Him breathe. There is peace in the middle of a storm next to Him. This is a good time to not pray once, and then quit – “…pray without ceasing!!”Amen.

And let people pray for you. This means saying yes to anybody who asks you, ‘can I pray for you?’ When we are overwhelmed with trouble, we need all the prayer we can get. This is not the time to avoid Sister Susie who prays two hour-long prayers! Let SS have at it. Also, when the problem is way to big for you to handle, and that includes fielding all the caring, multiple phone calls, I suggest you appoint a ‘point person.’ Someone you trust, who can organise food, help, rides, baby-sitting, give-out limited updates, and whatever else you need. 

Keep saying to yourself, “God loves me. He’s got this, it hasn’t surprised Him…”“For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal glory that is far beyond comparison. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.’”2 Corinthians 4:17. “Please fix my eyes on you Lord!” Amen.

Next I recommend reading the Psalms. Seriously, reading the Psalms and listening to spiritual songs, is like sweet clear water in a desert place. It’s a place where somebody else had words that were spoken out of great pain – as well as worship. In times of trouble we may run out!  At the same time, we need His Word to inspire, revive and refresh us … not instruct us. That’s a big tip for anyone who is trying to help someone else when that person’s life has just imploded. The idea is this: the wounded person is almost drowning, they need someone else to offer them a life-preserver, not a life lesson! And I really don’t care whose fault it is that their ceiling fell in! 

Let’s just get them to the hospital … to Jesus, first! Pray in tongues if you don’t know how to pray, and you are able to do it. The overwhelmed parties are also going to need people to help them, practically. I have seen mighty gifts of the Holy Spirit manifest themselves in my own terrible times. Some of us have no idea that practical help is also spiritual. Stephen and Co in the book of Acts chapter 6, show us that practical help is spiritually beneficial. 

Now to things that don’t help at all. If the wounded saint doesn’t want to talk, then don’t push them. Privacy can become very important when you already feel incredibly vulnerable, because your life just fell on its head. As their friend we need to simply pray as the Lord leads us, and if we get any insight – don’t share it, write it down instead. If they do want to share, just listen. Don’t problem solve unless the person asks you to. 

Sometimes a difficult matter can become much clearer after the event. But blame, or supposed fault, will not help at the point of impact. Love looks like support, not a lecture. If you don’t know what to say, then say nothing, or …“Weep with those who weep.” Romans 12:15. Someone’s life, or family disaster is not an appropriate place to be wise … it is a place to be supportive. 

Please note:  these things work inside the church and outside it. I pray the Body of Christ realises our greatest gift to the-people-who-don’t-know-Him-yet is to treat them like we would like to be treated. Pray for anyone who needs it, love on them, help them! Father God does not see two categories — those who are saved and those who are not. He sees His kids! Some of them are lost, and some have come home, but they are all HIS. Bye. 👋 

P 2414 Our own private Tutor.

/ DVH

“But when the Father sends the Spirit of Holiness, the One like Me Who sets you free, He will teach you all things in My name. And He will inspire you to remember every word that I’ve told you.” John 14:26 TPT

Just look at Who is always waiting for you and I when we read His book! I have a really bad short term memory, that appears to have turned up with age. It has required a lot of adjustment, for me as well as my family. It effects my family because I can be in the middle of a sentence and forget where I was going with my thoughts… 😂 … hilarious and humbling … all at the same time. Bonus buy! 

Moving on … I love the above verse because it directly deals with that malady in my life. The Holy Spirit is so faithful, He stands by me patiently and hands me verses when I type this blog daily. And sometimes He says: “look that up” Plus He says  … “read around it.”  Context always matters! So I can personally testify that He is an excellent Teacher. I can be reading away in the bible and He says: “Go back, you missed it.”  OR… “pause and think about this!” 

People make a really big deal out of encounters with the Holy Spirit or prophecies they have been given. It’s like they memorialise them or something. They build a statue, put a label on it and they live the rest of their lives camped at the bottom — hoping for more. 😳 To be strictly honest, perhaps I don’t value encounters that much because I have had hardly any! We must stop camping around a word, and start camping around the Teacher.

The one thing I do value mightily is this — I have this incredible Tutor Who shows up, day after day, time after time after time, and He guides me through the Word of God. He corrects me when I am ‘off-line’  and patiently repeats Himself when I am in thick-as-a-brick mode. He’s my Friend Who knows what I need, and He hands it to me. The bible is like a jigsaw puzzle to me – there are bits that make no sense until I have put together a part of the puzzle. And at other times I start with one piece and all the other pieces fall into place. And I do all that with Him guiding me, so patiently!

At exactly the same time, He shows me how what I am reading is relevant to me. He says things like: “you need to pay attention now!”  I often feel like I am watching a Master at work, creating something incredibly beautiful … because the Holy Spirit can’t help Himself! He’s always doing beautiful things. It is like His nature is always on display, particularly when I read the Word, or when I step out in obedience. I love this book! 

Today I was reading in Joshua, and the Holy Spirit pointed out that He told Joshua four times in the first chapter “to be strong and courageous.”  That repetition kind of got at me, so I wondered what it was about… four times is a lot of times! Then I saw that Joshua was the new leader and Moses had been a truly great leader, so Joshua was stepping into very big shoes … leading very disobedient people!  

God was instructing this young man about how to step into that role and how to apply whatever he was told to do. It takes courage to step out in faith and send a whole lot of Israelites marching around a walled city with no weapons, just musical instruments! Plus they did that seven days in a row!  It also took great courage for that young man to tell that army that’s what God said to do. Those men in the Jewish army were reliant upon Joshua’s ability to hear the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes when the Holy Spirit tells me to do something, it is easy to obey. But sometimes He tells me to tell my husband this or that for the person he’s going to speak to – and that takes faith! Because of my lack of physicality hubby often interacts with the people on the road more than I do, and he is more experienced than I am with dealing with strangers. 

There are times I feel to give a specific bookmark, or say this or that, and hubby goes and does it and the results are miraculous and extraordinary. We have over fifty instances of that on this last mission trip alone. This verse spoke to me today, because we both need to be strong and courageous, plus I need to speak up, otherwise I could simply take a backseat and let hubby do all the work and say nothing. We need each other just like that army needed Joshua’s leadership, plus their commitment.

My dear husband listens to me, and follows the Lord’s leading through me, and most of the time it makes very little sense to either of us – until the person in front of us starts crying their eyes out! That’s when we simply stand back and watch Him work. The best thing Christians can learn to do in this life is to learn to trust our precious Tutor. He knows stuff we do not know — about people we’ve never met. It’s AWESOME! 🕊 🙌

P 2395 Talking to other people.

/ DVH

There was a time when I had to sort of prime myself into speaking to someone else about the Lord Jesus. Fear of rejection and disapproval from them… as well as thoroughly annoying someone else to the point where they might punch me on the nose …  held me back! However, the Lord has been teaching me that when my focus is on how I feel, or what is happening to me etc. I am not walking in, or focussed, on His Love. Actually I am probably more focussed on self-preservation! His Love is ‘other’ centred. My faith needs to be focussed on the other person – not how I feel. That’s what witnessing is about.

It is my opinion that many people do not witness because it IS scary and it seems intrusive. In today’s PC world, proselytising is a big fat no-no. Now that’s a word you don’t see very often any more – proselytising – it means: convert or attempt to convert (someone) from one religion, belief, or opinion to another. That is not our aim. Our aim is to release the love of God, Who we know personally, into someone else’s life. 

When I witness, I want to do so in a natural fashion, telling others about what Jesus means to me. That’s it. We are not trying to change someone’s mind, we are introducing them to a whole new world they don’t know about. That thought is this – people are precious to God, and He personally did something about the things that stop us from enjoying His love. ← And that would be a full stop right there!

We don’t have to give other people the 24 spiritual laws, or argue them into His kingdom. Most times if we argue with someone we are talking to their mind, or their emotions. What we want is to release the kindness, love, compassion and wisdom of the Holy Spirit INTO their lives – so He can do what He does far better than we can!  I’ve personally watched the Holy Spirit go right round someone’s brain and hit them in the heart. Countless times. How does that happen? I simply say or do, what He tells me to say! And, big clue here, what I say is hardly ever complicated. “He loves you” is not complicated! 

Our part in this kind of life is to stay close to the Holy Spirit! He’s the Wind! He knows when to blow on someone else’s life – or not. Sometimes we may not need to say anything. Just living an ordinary laid-down life of love says it all. What do I mean by that? It means that I live my life believing that He is exactly Who He says He is, and I put Him and His wishes first. He is in charge of everything about me, because I asked Him to save me. I gave up my right to run my own life my own way when I said: “Yes.”  Now my only aim when I talk to other people, is to let the Love of God shine through me, however HE wants to do it. That love comes from Him, through me, to them.

The second thing that always helps me to talk to others, is this – learn to listen. When you are talking to someone because the Lord set it up – our life experiences often don’t matter. Let them talk about theirs. Just listen and don’t sermonise or judge. Let Love rule! Learn to listen with your heart not your head. Talk about Jesus as you know Him, personally.   

I know this sounds a bit daft, but talk about the Lord like you and He just had a coffee, and you were chatting together. Hopefully you have actually been just chatting with Him, because you were praying and studying the bible today!  Be reverent and respectful, about Who He is and what He did, but let people see your own personal relationship with Him. He’ll tell you what to say and what not to say. If I were talking to someone else about any friend of mine I might say: “Oh my Friend Jesus said this to me the other day.” That’s what I mean by natural.

Most people in this world think Christians follow rules that other people can’t, or don’t want to follow. They have no idea that we have a relationship with the greatest Person in the Universe and beyond. They need to know that our relationship with Him is personal – He is the God Who is always there. Sometimes, when I am giving away my bookmarks, I say: “Jesus asked me to give you this. He picked this one for you.” Because He did! He told me give that particular person that bookmark. Time and time again I am amazed at the other person’s response.

When we sow an earthly seed, we poke it into the ground and walk away. The same thing is true spiritually. All over this world seeds need to be sown. The Lord told me once: “You can’t have a harvest if you don’t sow seeds!” Witnessing is simply sowing seeds. Most earthly seeds are pretty insignificant. They often bear very little resemblance to the final product. But that seed has potential. Talking to other people in a natural fashion about what you believe is planting a seed with potential. 👋🏻

Acts 1:8 (NIV) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

P 2381 Out with the old and in with the new.

/ DVH

“Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at Him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new.The old life is gone; a new life emerges! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and Him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other.”

“God put the world square with Himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what He is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses US to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ Himself now: Become friends with God; He’s already a friend with you.”

I think the above scripture from 2 Corinthians 5:17 in the Message bible version is a pip … it’s the bomb! Meanwhile, those Message translators managed to get a whole lot of words out of a single medium-sized sentence in the King James. I think this very large translation is one of the very best versions of the gospel there is, and it is worth knowing and remembering what it says. It’s a fantastic summary of what happens when someone is changed by meeting Christ.

This new life we have now is not one of ticks and crosses. ✔️Tick, this is good behaviour, ❌cross, this is bad behaviour. This new life is an attitude of the heart followed by obedient, appropriately God-ordained actions. That’s why we need to take the time to get to know the Holy Spirit. He is our God-appointed Leader and Guide, as well as our Helper. After all, Jesus deliberately went away so the Holy Spirit could come here, so that ought to tell us something!  The Holy Spirit can be everywhere, with everyone, all at once …

The place this fantastic system falls down is on our watch. At this moment in His-tory WE are the only messengers of this gospel. Isn’t it amazing that God should trust you and I to be the people to tell everyone around us what happened in our life when we met Him? We can drag miserable, grumpy Aunt Minnie, to a thousand church meetings, but unless the Holy Spirit kisses that time — she will judge Christianity by the way we treat her. And that, my friend is a very sobering thought. One we should not take lightly.

We can pray: “Dear Jesus please save grouchy Aunt Minnie, Amen.” And then go away and think that we’ve done all we can to expose her to the gospel – because we prayed, and she’s so difficult and dangerous – just saying ‘hello’ is like running with the bulls in Pamploma! Some people are so nasty it is definitely a risk to life and limb just to get into their cage with them! So we blindly go along trying hard to be nice to her whenever we can, but she’s truly such a grouch it is almost impossible. However, this means we are basically leaving the responsibility we have to be Jesus to her … behind – and we are denying the power of His Word. No faith in that! I also think it is good to focus on the fact that tolerating Aunt Minnie is not the same as loving her. Holding in 4,000+ biting words when she rails on you isn’t either. I’m just saying … !!!

Because we are now in the process of being transformed, that life-style choice means someone who used to see grumpy Aunt Minnie as a matter of familial responsibility, now sees her as God’s gift in their life to give them opportunities for their transformation. After all, we have been told that Jesus loved the cross, He regarded it as a joy, because He saw what the result of the cross would be for this world. We need to learn to love the Auntie Minnies etc. in our lives, because they are now our personal tutors into His kingdom. It is incredibly easily for people like this to diagnose, and disclose our ugly hidden side.

In that process I will discover that the difference between Auntie Min and me, is that she is honestly horrid … however I think, and probably hope that I am not! The reality is, I just know how to hide my horrid far better than she does. Auntie M is actually my new best friend, and she comes complete with active provocation and mega annoyance. I don’t have to like her behaviour, but I must learn from my response to her behaviour, or my new life in Him will cease to flourish.

The Holy Spirit will use Auntie Minnie to show me sides of myself I never knew were there. But that only happens if I stop excusing myself and accusing her! So, because the gospel is always the issue … here’s a knotty question —  if your life was a gospel tract on witnessing what would it say? “I got saved, and now I have a Saviour Who answers my prayers?” Hmmm. A truly transformed and changed life is a powerful thing. 

It is time for us to take off the self-protective glasses and learn who we really are, so we can love the people who have been even more badly hurt than we have … and at the same time we need to pay attention to our responses and reactions so we can cultivate our new nature by walking with Him. 👋🏻

“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20

P 2273 Look for fruit.

/ DVH

“But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit. Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.” Galatians 5:22-23 TPT. 

One of the biggest problems with knowing about something, or someone, is familiarity. We often gloss or rush through familiar words without true comprehension. We simply don’t take it in. It is just too easy to mentally say ‘yeah yeah – I get that bit’  and miss the point! What is in Galatians above is HOW we identify the Holy Spirit. In other words, in order to know the Holy Spirit as a Person, we need to be able to identify what He does, and what His Presence produces, so that we are living aware of Him. 

The Holy Spirit is not just goosebumps, laughter or tears or any other feeling. Sometimes He is present with us but we feel nothing. His presence can produce feelings, but those feelings are not Who He is – because He is so much more than feelings! He made everything we see around us.  He needs to be our very very best friend. Having the Holy Spirit for ‘the Friend Who sticks closer than a brother’ is a fantastic aim. 

Jesus would not have sent Him back to all of us, if we did not desperately need Him. I believe Christ would never have gone away and left His disciples if He didn’t have absolute confidence in the Holy Spirit’s ability to grow them up and to lead them in the ways of righteousness. The Holy Spirit’s Presence immediately eclipsed their fears. It would be a tragedy to sing ‘Blessed Assurance’ and not have any assurance that He loves us and wants to be with us!

I think this is why His qualities are listed in the passage above. That description shows us the fruit of His presence in our lives. The reason I am writing about this today, is, we often do not recognise Him when He is present. Instead of looking for feelings, we need to start recognising His fruit. There are some people that I know and love, and whenever I’m around them I immediately see His fruit in their lives.

If we are to walk with Him day by day, minute by minute, it seems to me we totally need to know what He looks like, plus what He sounds like, when He is around. The Holy Spirit is the very epitome of modesty and gentleness, He is literally invisible. So finding Him can be difficult. His continual presence is our constant quest. We need to do whatever is necessary to protect our relationship with Him. If we need to repent, then we repent and stop doing whatever it is by making Godly choices.  

Whenever He’s around this world looks very different. The things we think we can’t do at all, suddenly seem utterly possible because His presence evokes confidence in God in us. If we reduce the Holy Spirit to feelings then we will miss Him, because He chooses to be about the Father’s business the same way Jesus was. Like the scripture in Galatians says, He is constantly producing fruit – in our lives and in the lives of others around us. Jesus told us we would know what kind of tree it is by its fruit.

It isn’t enough to sing worship songs Sunday by Sunday, and feel peaceful inside. That’s just the beginning, not the whole thing, what we need to be looking for is a change in ourselves and the people around us. We need to be able to identify in ourselves, those times when we feel upheld by His grace. Without His fruit, we will have limited evidence of His presence. His fruit is not about being nice or polite. HE changes and renews our hearts as we obey and embrace His words. Instead of losing our temper etc., we suddenly find, because we cherish having Him active in our lives, that we have extra grace to endure. This is how spiritual fruit grows, it grows through the process of obedience to His word and His particular instructions for us individually.

The Holy Spirit’s fruit cannot be imitated, it has to be carefully tended and nurtured within our own lives. We need to value Him above everything and everyone else. We must respect what God is doing in us, and take every opportunity to feed and protect His fruit by choosing to remaining obedient, and willingly. Fruit matures as we obey, then rest and wait. Our part is to stay attached to the (vine) tree. Staying attached to Him will mature His fruit. Bye. 👋🏻 

“And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Savior, the Holy Spirit of Truth, Who will be to you a friend just like me—and We will never leave you. The world won’t receive Him because they can’t see Him or know Him. But you know Him intimately because He remains with you and will live inside you. Jesus replied, “Loving Me empowers you to obey My word. And My Father will love you so deeply that We will come to you and make you our dwelling place.” John 14:16-17, 23 TPT

P 2142 Some verses from Romans 8.

/ DVH

The way we live our lives now, is explained in Romans. Today I’ve highlighted some verses in Romans 8, starting with verses 3-4: “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” 

The reality is, that each one of us needs to progressively learn how to walk in a manner that does not dismiss, alienate, or send away the Holy Spirit. 🕊 HE. IS. OUR. FRIEND. OUR COMPANION. And like Jesus, He is gentle, unobtrusive, and lowly in His heart. It is a sad thing if we continue to live in the flesh, when we’ve been reborn into a new life in the Spirit. We cannot make excuses for not living in this new life, that Jesus died to give us. It was, after all, free! The bible is the Manufacturer’s instructions – we need to read it looking for things to do for others, things to teach us about His Ways.Things to direct our focus away from this world, into learning about His focus for mankind. Our main priority now, is to stay connected with the One Who is here to help us. Obedience will keep us connected.

Sin isn’t just about murder, or running away with your receptionist or swearing!! It is also about not forgiving someone from your heart. (Matthew 18:35) And guess what? The Holy Spirit knows our hearts … so we can’t hide our stinky attitudes under the heading of: ‘Things I have to do, but I haven’t got around to them yet!’ Plus, good luck hiding unforgiveness under the rug of: ‘I’ve been too busy.’ 😶 When we think like that it tells the Holy Spirit His Presence is not all that important to us. He. Will. Leave. And we are NOT GOOD without Him.

Our task is to find out what He likes to do, and start doing that. So with His ever-present help, we follow His leadership into Christ’s footsteps – because the Body of Christ is going somewhere. However, we cannot begin our journey of faith without continually taking faith steps. We will get to know the Holy Spirit when we cherish Him and obey what He tells us to do. If it is in the book and we are not doing it, then we need to change. Our God is for us and wants to be constantly with us, but He cannot walk with us, if we do not want to be with Him enough to lay aside all the things that weigh us down. These things are clearly explained in the bible – obedience is never an optional extra.

Our awareness of sin is lessened the further away we go from His Presence. But our awareness of other people’s sin heightens when we’ve wandered away from listening to Him. The secret is to let the Holy Spirit govern our lives and show Him – by doing whatever He asks us to do – that He is the greatest desire of our heart. Compromise is our enemy. On to Verse 5: “Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” 

This new way to live is about focus, and the Holy Spirit will help us focus on Who He is, and what He is doing in our lives right now – as well as our part in what He is doing in this world. Read the Old Testament, and watch what happened when ordinary men and women obeyed Almighty God! This morning I was typing this, and He said: “Eat your breakfast, it is going cold.” So I ate my breakfast, and guess what? It was going cold. I have seen, with my own eyes, the amazing things that He will do with obedience. Start by repairing broken relationships, and begin to use the time you have been given well.  Human beings often do useless stuff that whittles away the God-given time we have. 

BTW, when the Holy Spirit talks about rest in the bible, He is talking about us resting in everything He has already done for us through Christ’s sacrifice. And there are things in this life that He will do through us – but if we don’t do them, then they won’t get done. We have the power to give away forgiveness to those who don’t know it is available.That’s a BIG responsibility. We are, after all, ‘co-labourers with Christ.’

Like verse 5 says, our flesh does not please God, so we dare not rationalise the things of God away. Verse 6: “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” Let’s turn that coin over shall we? Who or what is in charge of us and our minds? That’s what governed means. It is when the Holy Spirit calls to us – so when we are reading the bible and one verse catches your attention – then stop. Treat it just like He is speaking directly to you. Give Him your attention. He loves it when we give Him time. Ask Questions. Look up other verses that relate to whatever it is. Prayerfully look for ways that verse applies to you.

Lastly, Verse 8: “Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.” Why not? Because He is a Spirit!  We are now born again spiritual beings who temporarily have bodies. We were always going to die before we met the Lord, but now we leave here and go to be with Him. Living this life with an awareness of the Holy Spirit makes sense. Obedience helps our spirit man to grow and mature. My flesh can easily be obsessed with what makes me temporarily happy! But because of Christ, my spirit man is now attached to the Holy Spirit. I need to continually make Him welcome, by obeying the last thing He asked me to do. 👋🏻